Column 16

1 [… I stopped my ear to your teachings until … and a perverted spirit] 2 [without knowledge you struck from my inward parts, and heaviness of heart …] … [… and I no longer have] 3 [a stumbling block of iniquity. For you reveal your salvation,] and your righteousness you establish forever. For a [human’s way] is not [his own.] 4 [All these things] you have done [for your glory.] 5 I thank [you, O] Lord, for you have set me by a source of streams in a dry land, and a spring of water in a parched land, and channels watering 6 a garden and a pool … the field, a planting of juniper and elm together with cypress, for your glory: trees of 7 life at a secret spring, hidden among all the trees by the water. And they are to make a shoot sprout for an eternal planting, 8 taking root before they sprout, and they send out their roots to the watercourse. And its trunk opens to the living water 9 and becomes an eternal source. And on its sprouting leaves all the beasts of the forest feed, and its trunk is a trampling place for all who pass by⁠a 10 on the way, and its boughs are for every winged bird. And all the trees by the water rise high above it, for in their planting they grow tall, 11 but they do not send a root to the watercourse. And the one that makes the holy shoot sprout for the planting of truth is hidden, not 12 esteemed, and, being unknown, its mystery is sealed. And you, O God, have fenced in its fruit with the mystery of mighty warriors 13 and holy spirits and the whirling flame of fire, so that no [stranger may come] to the spring of life, and with the eternal trees 14 he may not drink the holy water, and may not bear his fruit with the planting of heaven. For he saw without recognizing, 15 and he considered without believing in the source of life, and he gave over the eternal blossom as yield. And I became a thing mocked by 16 flooding rivers, for they cast up their mire on me. 17 But you, my God, have put in my mouth as it were an early rain for all … […] … and a spring of living water that does not fail.⁠b When they open, 18 the heavens do not cease, and they become a torrent flooding over [all the trees by the] water, and boundless seas […] 19 Suddenly they gush out, those hidden in secret … […] … and they become waters of [strife for every tree,] 20 green and dry, and the deep for every beast. And the trees of […] like lead in mighty waters […] 21 in flames of fire they dry up. But the planting of fruit … [… an] eternal source, becomes a glorious Eden and [everlasting] splendor. 22 And by my hand you have opened their source with the channels of […] … to turn by a sure measuring line, and the planting of 23 their trees by the plumb line of the sun, to … […] … for glorious splendor. When I move my hand to dig 24 its channels, its roots strike into the flint rock and […] … their trunk in the earth. And in the time of heat it keeps 25 its strength. But if I withdraw my hand, it becomes like a juniper [in the wilderness,] and its trunk like nettles in a salt land, and in its channels 26 grow thorn and thistle, turning to brier and weed, and … […] its bank turn like rotting trees. Before 27 the heat its leaves wither, and it does not open with the rain … […] … a dwelling with sicknesses, and a heart … 28 with afflictions. And I am like a forsaken man in sorrow […] … I have no strength. For my affliction has blossomed 29 into bitterness, and an incurable pain that cannot be held back. [And there is] tumult over me, as with those who go down to Sheol, and with 30 the dead my spirit searches, for my life has reached the pit […] my soul faints day and night 31 without rest. And it blossoms like a burning fire shut up in my bones; for days on end its flame devours, 32 bringing strength to an end for ages and wearing away flesh until the appointed times. And the breakers fly over me, 33 and my soul within me is bowed down to destruction. For my strength has left my body, and my heart is poured out like water, and my flesh melts 34 like wax, and the strength of my loins has turned to terror. And my arm is broken from its socket, and I cannot move my hand. 35 And my foot is caught in a fetter, and my knees go like water, and I cannot take a step, and there is no tread at the sound of my foot. 36 And the strength of my arm is bound with chains that make me stumble. But the tongue you made strong in my mouth is not taken away, though I cannot lift up 37 my voice or make those who are taught hear, to revive the spirit of those who stumble and to sustain the weary with a word. The flow of my lips is silenced 38 by horrors. By the measuring line of judgment the tablet of my heart … … or in bitterness […] … heart … dominion 39 in the inclinations of […] … and I […] … [… the] soul is swallowed up 40 their inward parts […] … they are silenced like nothing 41 … […] a man without